2017

16 musicians who died in 2017

Several excellent musicians passed away in 2017, here we celebrate some of their lives and contributions to the world of music. February 12, 2017: Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and musician who received a total of seven Grammy Awards and was nominated for over a dozen more. Al Jarreau earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ripon College in Wisconsin in 1962, and a master’s in vocational rehabilitation from the University of Iowa in 1964. Afterward he moved to San Francisco, where he worked as a rehabilitation counselor for…
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David Cassidy died November 21, 2017

David Cassidy, who shot to fame in The Partridge Family, before going on to become a teen pop idol in the 1970s, has died aged 67. David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an actor, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He first became famous playing Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge, in the 1970s musical-sitcom The Partridge Family. This role led to him becoming one of the biggest teen idols and pop singers of the 1970s. He later had a career in both acting and music. David Cassidy was born in New York City in 1950,…
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AC/DC’s Malcolm Young died November 18, 2017

Malcolm Young (January 6, 1953 – November 18, 2017) was a Scottish-Australian musician, songwriter, and co-founder, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist of legendary hard rock, heavy metal band AC/DC. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland to William and Margaret Young on January 6, 1953 and the family moved to Australia in 1963, when Malcolm was 10. Except for a brief absence in 1988, Malcolm was with AC/DC from its beginning in November 1973 until he retired in 2014 for health reasons. Malcolm Young was 20 when he formed AC/DC with his younger brother Angus in 1973. The line-up was Angus…
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Fats Domino died October 24, 2017

Fats Domino was born Antoine “Fats” Domino Jr, (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017) was an American pianist and singer-songwriter and probably the most influential rock and roll performers of the 1950s and 60s, has died of natural causes aged 89. He was born at home with the help of his grandmother, a midwife, and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, the eighth and last child of Antoine Caliste Domino, a well-known violinist, and Marie-Donatille Gros. The family was of French Creole background and Louisiana Creole French was Fats first language. His name was originally, incorrectly given as Anthony on…
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Tom Petty died October 2, 2017.

Thomas Earl (Tom) Petty (October 20, 1950 – October 2, 2017) as born in Gainesville, Florida, the first of two sons of Earl and Kitty Petty. He was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer, and best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He was also a member and co-founder of the late 1980s super group the Traveling Wilburys, with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison. His interest in rock and roll began at the age of ten when he met Elvis Presley on the set of the film Follow That…
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Grant Hart from Hüsker Dü Died September 14, 2017

Grant Hart, Hüsker Dü Drummer and Singer, Dies from Liver Cancer at 56. Grantzberg “Grant” Vernon Hart (March 18, 1961 – September 14, 2017) was an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-songwriter for the alternative, hardcore punk rock band Hüsker Dü. Grant Hart was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the youngest of three children born to a credit union employee and a shop teacher. When he was 10, his older brother was killed by a drunk driver and Grant inherited his brother’s drum kit and records. He began playing in a number of bands as a teenager….
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Troy Gentry died on September 8, 2017

Troy Gentry (April 5, 1967 – September 8. 2017), of country duo Montgomery Gentry, has died following a helicopter crash in New Jersey, he was 50. Gentry was born in Lexington, Ky., on April 5, 1967 but called Nashville home. He was married with two children. Musicians Eddie and Troy, who were both natives of Kentucky, began performing in the 1990s as part of two different bands with Montgomery’s brother, John Michael Montgomery. In 1999 they formed Montgomery Gentry which was known for its Southern rock influences. They collaborated with other artists such as Charlie Daniels, Toby Keith and members…
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Country Legend Don Williams died on September 8, 2017

Donald Ray Williams (May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017) was an American country singer and songwriter. He died in Mobile, Alabama aged 78. He was the youngest of three sons and was born on May 27, 1939, in Floydada, Texas and grew up in Portland, Texas. He moved to Nashville in the late 1960s and wrote songs for some of country music’s biggest artists, such as “Cowboy” Jack Clement. Don spent seven years with the folk-pop trio the Pozo-Seco Singers, and had two Top 40 hits with “I Can Make It With You” and “Look What You’ve Done,” in…
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Walter Becker from Steely Dan died on September 3, 2017

Walter Becker was born Walter Carl Becker (February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017) and was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was best known as the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of Steely Dan. He died on September 3, 2017 following an undisclosed illness, aged 67. When he was a young boy his parents separated, and he was raised by his father and grandmother, and lived in Queens and then from the age of five in Scarsdale, New York. Becker met future song writing partner Donald Fagen while studying at Bard College. While at Bard, Becker and…
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Legendary Glen Campbell died on August 8, 2017

Glen Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, television host, and actor. He died of Alzheimer’s disease in Nashville on August 8, 2017, aged 81. He was best know for hits like Rhinestone Cowboy, Galveston and Wichita Linesman. Glen Travis Campbell was the seventh son of 12 children born to John Wesley and Carrie Dell (Stone) Campbell in Billstown, near Delight, Arkansas. The family lived on a farm where they barely got by growing cotton, corn, watermelons and potatoes. Musical Start In 1954, at age 17, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico,…
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